Saif Ali Khan helped Vivek Oberoi learn to play the guitar for his role in Omkara. Now it's John Abraham's turn to have a go.

John is to play a musician in Imtiaz Ali's Rock Star, and when we see him take to the stage as a long-haired rock musician, John won't be just acting the part.

Says John, "Yes I'm going to get those chords right. No point in strumming senselessly. Nowadays the audience has got very wise. They can tell when an actor is faking it. I also learnt to play the flute for my role in Water. At this rate I could become a one-man band. But I didn't have to learn to play ride the bike for Dhoom."

"Seriously speaking, role ke bahane it's good fun to expand your horizon. I don't want to be an actor just to look good and wear trendy clothes on screen. I want to go deeper into my character. It's great fun to prepare for a role."

He is happy with the films he is currently working on. "By the grace of God, I've plenty of prolific work on my plate. I love the family of directors I'm working for Deepa, Sriram Raghavan’s Happy Birthday, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Ashayen, Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, to name a few.

"If you listen to the scripts you would wonder why I'm doing such unusual films when I could be doing hardcore commercial cinema. It's because I want to grow as an actor."

Not forgetting Saif also plays the guitar. Perhaps the two can 'jam' together? "Why not?" laughs John.